Tag: nerd/jock romance

Review:  One-Time Shot: MM Small-Town College Hockey Romance (Smithton Bears Book 1) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 4.5🌈

If you loved The Elmwood Stories then the Smithton Bear is just your thing. One-Time Shot: MM Small-Town College Hockey Romance (Smithton Bears Book 1) by Lane Hayes is such an adorable romance.  

The two main characters are an absolute delight to read and I easily read this in one evening. 

Jett, the college hockey player is layered, finding his year challenging, and his life full of unexpected stumbles.  Malcolm, the science major who has a thesis and needs Jett’s help to complete it, is fully realized and relatable. He’s so cute.

Together they are funny believable duo, learning from each other, walking around, figuring things out, within the context of their social groups and sports influence. 

Hayes makes these two young men very honest and real in their issues and how they find their way to overcome the obstacles between them.

 

A lovely romance and terrific couple. 

Cover Design by Reese Dante

Smithton Bears:

One-Time Shot #1

Something to Prove #2 – July 29,2025

Buy link

        One-Time Shot: MM Small-Town College Hockey Romance (Smithton Bears Book 1)

    

Blurb 

The jock, the geek, and the hockey project…

Jett

My pro hockey dreams are hanging by a thread. I need to have a great season and that means no partying, no distractions, no fun. The grad student’s science experiment is the definition of no fun, so…okay.

Pros and cons of agreeing to this deal:

Pros: Positive use of free time. (At least that’s what my agent says.)

Cons: Malcolm is bossy, clumsy, and he doesn’t know the first thing about hockey.

But he’s also cute and he’s got a great sense of humor and—oh no.

I cannot have a crush on the geek. No way. Not now.

Malcolm

Yes, I’m a serious student, but a hockey project is not serious. Who cares about big hunky hockey players zipping around a sheet of ice at warp speed? Not I.

However, according to my professor, the only way to attain the required data is to study the specimen in his natural habitat, AKA, the ice rink.

Pros: My thesis should lead to a bevy of job offers.

Cons: Jett. He’s impossibly big and gruff and handsome and disarmingly charming and—

Fine. Guilty. I like the jock…perhaps too much.

Lately, I find myself wondering if there’s such a thing as a one-time shot at forever.

One-Time Shot is a low-angst, geek-jock MM bisexual college hockey romance featuring a charismatic hockey star and an adorkable scientist.

  • Publication date: May 27, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 186 pages
  • Book 1 of 2: Smithton Bears

Review: Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) by Amy Aislin

Rating: 4.5🌈

Keeping Casey is another terrific contemporary romance from Amy Aislin. Loosely connected to her hockey series through the Glen Hill College Mountaineers hockey team, which has made its appearances in other stories , this novel is the first in a new Keeping Him series.

In Keeping Casey the author weaves many of my favorite tropes together to form a sweet and moving romance. Here we have a nerd/jock relationship that’s a friends to lovers with elements of slow burn, hurt/comfort, even LGBTQIA bullying within a fake boyfriend storyline.

Yep, all that and it works so well together.

Of course it helps tremendously if you have adorable, layered characters with realistic chemistry that whenever they’re together the warmth and love just flows off the pages.

There’s a bullying aspect here but on the jock side which is unexpected but again completely realistic. Also twinned painful pasts for both men where each has taken that trauma and emotionally internalized it in vastly different ways.

These elements, two incredibly different characters and one amazing relationship. It all makes for a fantastic romance and terrific secondary characters whose stories will be appearing shortly.

Another aspect I loved is that people, hockey players and their partners, from her other books and series , pop up here as supporters. It works beautifully. And it’s great to see them all again.

I’m highly recommending this story and I’m onto the next!

Keeping Him series:

Keeping Casey #1

Keeping Kellen #2

Synopsis:

Casey Preston is the guy with the plan. The list-maker. The one who micromanages his own life.

Spontaneously offering to be his best friend’s fake boyfriend to get Ethan’s annoying team captain off his back?

That’s not thinking things through. It’s not even smart given Casey’s been fighting his feelings for Ethan for years.

Ethan Rain just wants to play hockey and get his college degree. Adding a fake boyfriend to the mix? He doesn’t need that complication.

If Casey were his real boyfriend, though? If he got to keep Casey forever? Now we’re talking.

But what if Casey doesn’t want to be kept?

Keeping Casey

(Keeping Him #1)

by Amy Aislin

Review: The Jock Script (The Script Club #3) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 5🌈

Lane Hayes is at her best when it comes to characters deeply anguished by choices they’ve made or failed to make in their lives. People who are now failing under the pressure, stress, and pain the situation they now find themselves in.

Hayes has that ability to deliver that pain, that shame and doubt directly into the readers hearts, connecting us to the characters and their life choices.

Here in book 3, the angst has never been so apparent, the pain of repression and it’s repercussions so widespread.

We start off with Asher Fitzgibbons,genius, works at NASA, immediate-goal to work at the JPL. He’s decided to, one time only, to hook up with a app for a one night stand.

Asher, diminutive blonde genius, has made a number of impactful appearances in the prior stories but here the tiny perfectionist is given his due.

Oh, what a complicated man he turns out to be, with a heartbreak of a past as a foundation.

The man on the other side of the app? That would be Blake Johnson, coach of girls LaCrosse at a posh private school , and very closeted bisexual.

At first you believe that all the anguish, the repression, and the pain is coming from Blake as he deals with years of self denial and the situations at school. This is heartbreaking stuff here.

But slowly it becomes apparent that Asher too is suffering from some deep emotional issues, and past trauma.

How both men work through all the issues and barriers to arrive at a satisfying relationship is a richly rewarding journey and wonderful read.

I adore these uniquely nerdy geniuses and the men they come to love. Apparently the series isn’t over yet. Another holiday novel and book four is coming.

Great characters, well written storylines, including some deep elements all leading up to heartwarming romances.

Yep! Highly recommended!

The Script Club Series:

Following the Rules #1

Rules of Play #2

The Jock Script #3

The Holiday List #4- coming Nov 2021

Synopsis;

The nerd, the coach, and the hookup…

Asher-

Swipe left, swipe left, swipe left. Sure, the idea of a quick, no-strings intimate rendezvous via hookup app sounds oddly thrilling, but it’s simply not me. Or maybe it is me, because it happened…and I liked it. Until I realized he looked familiar for a reason. A bad reason. Now I’ve made a faux pas with the sexiest man on planet Earth, and my internal karma system requires me to fix it. Help!

Blake-

I may seem like I have it together, but the truth is, I’m a hot mess. I’m so deep in the closet that I can’t remember my real name some days. That’s okay. The benefit of one-night stands is anonymity. Until Asher. Not a total surprise. I’ve always had a thing for geeks, but I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s a pint-sized dynamo on a quest for perfection who can help me come out…if I follow his script.

Hmm. I’m in.

The Jock Script is an MM bisexual, geek/jock romance starring a bowtie wearing nerd, a sexy lacrosse coach, and a shenanigan inducing script!

The Jock Script